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UTILITY WEEK | 25TH SEPTEMBER - 1ST OCTOBER 2015 | 19 Finance & Investment Stock watch 1,460 1,450 1,440 1,430 1,420 10:00am 12:00pm 14:00pm 16:00pm Jul Aug Sep SSE SHARE PRICE, 21 SEPTEMBER 1,650 1,600 1,550 1,500 1,450 1,400 SSE SHARE PRICE, JUL - AUG 2015 SSE saw its share price jump on 21 September aer the CMA said it will delay its energy probe findings by six months. The price rose from 1,431 pence at the start of trading to a peak of 1,459.74p in the aernoon before settling at around 1,450p. Whitman Howard analyst Angelos Anastasiou said the CMA remedies "have the potential to be reasonable" and that the market remains "optimistic" about the final outcome. This week UK gives £2 billion guarantee on Hinkley Government says backing for the project marks an 'unprecedented' collaboration on new nuclear Chancellor George Osborne has pledged a £2 billion guarantee to the Hinkley Point C new nuclear plant ahead of a final investment decision (FID) for the long- awaited project later this year. Osborne began a five-day tour of China by promising to back the EDF-led development, in which Chinese firms hold a 40 per cent stake, in a deal worth at least £2 billion. The UK's first new nuclear plant in a generation has hit multiple hurdles, but with the backing of the China General Nuclear Corporation and China National Nuclear Corporation, a FID is expected by year end. Under the terms of the financial support deal out- lined by the UK government almost two years ago, the consortium will receive £89.50 per MWh of energy pro- duced by the Hinkley and Sizewell B projects, or £92.50/ MWh if just the Hinkley project moves forward. The government said its guarantee for the project marks the start of an "unprecedented" collaboration between the UK and China on the construction of new nuclear power stations, and follows media reports that prime minister David Cameron will seal a deal with China next month during Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to the UK. The deal will reportedly set out an official agreement on the Hinkley project and will also allow China to build a prototype nuclear reactor at a site in Bradwell, Essex. "It is another move forward for the golden relation- ship between Britain and China – the world's oldest civil nuclear power and the world's fastest growing civil nuclear power," said Osborne of the guarantee pledge. JA WATER Yorkshire invests £100m in upgrades Yorkshire Water has invested £100 million in upgrading 720 recently adopted private pump- ing stations and bringing them up to the company's standards. It has awarded a five-year mechanical, electrical, instru- mentation, controls and automa- tion (MEICA) contract, worth £20 million per year, to four firms including Leeds-based Nomenca and Sheffield-based Cema Clay- ton Consortium, along with Eric Wright Group and Damar Group. All 10 sewerage companies in England and Wales will have to adopt private pumping stations under government legislation by 1 October 2016. RENEWABLES Partnership for GIB and ORE Catapult The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) has agreed a three-year partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Cata- pult in a bid to cut the cost of energy generated by offshore renewables. The memorandum of under- standing sets out how the two organisations will seek to lower the levelised cost of energy by encouraging investment into the sector. They have identified six areas in which they will work to address investor concerns about risks in the sector: standardisa- tion of due diligence scopes for equity and debt investment; assessment and solutions for technical challenges on offshore structures; development of ena- bling technology standards, such as LiDAR; operations and mainte- nance certification development; industry accepted benchmarking/ stage-gating parameters for per- formance of both marine projects and technologies to enable investment; and financial model- ling best practice for offshore renewables projects. RENEWABLES UK investment attractiveness slides A spate of recent government cuts to renewables subsidies has caused the attractiveness of the UK's renewables market as an investment destination to plummet, according to EY. Inconsistencies in policy revisions and the abandon- ment of several large-scale projects means the UK has lost its top ten spot in EY's league table of the 40 most attractive renewable energy markets for investors, slipping to 11th place, the group's Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) has found. The report pointed out that the government's latest policy revisions will have a significant impact on onshore wind investment. Hinkley C: world's most expensive power plant